Walgreens druggists plan strike

Firm says prescriptions will be filled

Walgreen Co. pharmacists said Tuesday that they would strike 400 stores in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana at 10 p.m. Wednesday, while the company pledged it would continue to fill prescriptions but with reduced pharmacy hours.

The National Pharmacists Association, which represents 1,200 Walgreen pharmacists in the area, said the company is trying to dismantle contract provisions that prevent members from being overworked and protect the public.

"This is not about pay," said Charles Sauer, executive director of the association. "This is about working conditions and staffing policies that could ultimately compromise patient safety."

Sauer said picketing could begin at some locations Wednesday evening.

Working conditions should not be an issue, a company spokesman said.

"We have the best work environment in the industry," said Walgreens spokesman Michael Polzin.

Polzin said prescriptions would be filled by supervising pharmacists and other pharmacist-executives with Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain. Pharmacist technicians are not represented by the union and will remain on the job, he said.

"We are a company of pharmacists," said Polzin, whose boss, Chairman and Chief Executive David Bernauer, is a pharmacist.

Polzin declined to say whether Deerfield-based Walgreens will bring in non-union pharmacists from its nearly 4,000 stores elsewhere in the country. The company brought in pharmacists and technicians from other states to staff stores during a brief strike 15 years ago.

Only seven of approximately 100 pharmacies that are open 24 hours would remain open around the clock, the company said, and hours will be shortened at other stores. But the minimum Walgreens pharmacies will be open is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Store hours will not be affected by the walkout.

The union said it will strike Walgreens pharmacies in Boone, Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Winnebago Counties in Illinois as well as parts of Kendall, Will and Stephenson Counties in Illinois and parts of Lake County in Indiana.

The strike announcement came as something of a surprise. The union and the company were scheduled to meet Thursday. As of Tuesday night, no talks were scheduled for Wednesday.

Walgreens said it is offering a four-year contract with 4 percent raises each year, which would leave pharmacists on a 40-hour workweek earning more than $100,000 a year. The old contract expired June 12.

But a major issue for the union is the number of prescriptions a pharmacist can handle in a shift. The union said its members can safely fill no more than 150 prescriptions per day.

This allows time to read the doctor's script, check patient history and the possibility of drug interactions, fill the prescription, counsel patients and answer questions, the union contends. In many cases, the pharmacist must call the doctor as well, the union said.

"Right now at many Walgreens stores, pharmacists fill 300 to 400 prescriptions each day," said Thomas Hanson, president of the association.

Polzin disputed that any pharmacist fills that many prescriptions in a day.

"While a pharmacy may fill 300 to 400 prescriptions in a day, a pharmacist is not responsible for that number," he said. "Our average pharmacy fills about 280 prescriptions per day."

Since pharmacies are regulated on a state-by-state basis by state pharmacy boards, there is no clear set of standards as to how many prescriptions a pharmacist can fill safely in a day.

Still, several national studies by a variety of groups show that medical errors, including those involving pharmacists at the pharmacy counter, are rising.

While Walgreens acknowledges its pharmacists make errors, its error rate has not risen despite an explosion in prescriptions filled in recent years, the company said Tuesday.

Walgreens wouldn't disclose its internal error rate but said that errors "do not correspond to the changes in volume."

On average, three pharmacists are on staff at each Walgreens. Stores open 24 hours could have more at any given time, the company said.

Walgreens said its new offer includes a streamlined way to assess staffing levels. The union contends that the new staffing system eliminates a provision that allowed for staffing level input from pharmacists, a provision the union claims assured customer safety.

The American Pharmacists Association has never set a standard for the number of prescriptions a pharmacist can safely fill in eight hours, said spokeswoman Susan Winckler, though it has studied the issue.

Winckler said such factors as the number of assistants and the types of prescriptions make it too difficult to set a standard.

"It fits better on the professional judgment of the pharmacist," she said.

For Walgreens regulars, the idea of a walkout introduced uncertainty into the mundane task of filling a prescription.

Stephanie Ross, a registered nurse, was visiting a Walgreens on Milwaukee Avenue in the Wicker Park section of Chicago Tuesday night.